Thermal garment and the construction thereof



SePt- 10, 1968 D. w. COGSWELL. 3,400,756

THERMAL GARMENT AND THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF Filed Jan. 7, 1966 '3 Sheets-Sheet l f/ /f//M/ A Sept. 10, 1968 D. w. coGswELl. 3,400,756

` THERMAL GARMENT AND THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF Filed Jan. v, 196e 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l lll/111111111',

Sept. l0, 1968 D. w. coGswELl. 3,400,756

THERMAL GARMENT AND THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF Filed Jan. 7, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 United States y Patent Ofi-ice 3,400,756 Patented Sept. 10, 1968 3,400,756 THERMAL GARMENT AND THE CONSTRUCTION THEREOF David W. Cogswell, North Wilbraharn, Mass., assignor to United Aircraft Corporation, East Hartford, Conn., a

corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 519,207 4 Claims. (Cl. 165-46) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A thermal garment constructed to include tubes secured to a fabric to encircle the wearer. A stretchable material is utilized along with the fabric so that when the stretcha'ble material is in tension the tubes are urged against the skin of the wearers body. An insulating covering is attached to the outer surface of the fabric.

This invention relates to thermal garments and particularly to the construction thereof. p

This invention constitutes an improvement over the thermal gar-ment described Iand claimed in U.S. application Ser. No. 394,548 filed on Sept. 4, 1964, `and now Patent No. 3,289,748* by D. Jennings and assigned to the same assignee. As was disclosed in the above-identified application, a network of tubes was sewn on the inner surface of a garment constructed from a netted fabric so as to be in intimate contact with the wearer. These tubes communicated with a source of liquid which served to either transfer heat to or away from the wearer. In the devel-opment of such a suit several problems became evident and the solution of these problems to be described herein form the subject matter of this invention.

One of these problems has to deal with keeping the tubes in intimate contact with the wearer after the suit has had considerable use and laundering. The lace construction on the sides of the garment disclosed in the aforementioned application serves to keep the tubes of the suit in intimate contact but required readjusting the laces after each use. Also, zippers had to be installed at judicial locations to provide for proper donning and doing. As the suit was donned and doffed and laundered over a period of time, it not only became cumbersome to don but the tubes began to meander and failed to stay in intimate Contact -as firmly as was desired, and hence, reduced the cooling eifectiveness to mass of the body ratio.

In addition, it was evident that the type of stitching disclosed in the aforementioned application was not only costly and cumbersome but was very time consuming since the stitching had to be done by hand.

Still another problem was in the particular tube connectors which were adapted to `feed from a single line a plurality of tubes mounted on the inner surface of the fabric. The problem was that the inlet feed tube was not properly orientated with respect to the distributing tubes creating a bulge which was a source ofuncomfort to the wearer. Additionally, the main feed conduit was poorly orientated relative to the point where it was passed through the structural fabric necessitating a bend in the tube, also resulting in a bulge.

It is also contemplated within the scope of this invention to provide an abbreviated type of garment which incorporates individually or collectively the features enumerated above and providing additional features necessary for the effectiveness, comfort `and economics of this type of garment. Of course, the type of garment is predicated on the particular application. As for example, a cooling garment constructed of the type described in the 394,548 application, supra, has particular lapplicability in a suit intended to be used for either in outer space, under water or extreme hot or cold environments where it is necessary and desirable to cool or 'heat the entire body. But in certain applications, for example, to be worn as an undergarment or an outergarment for certain less-stringent applications such as foundry workers and the like, it is only necessary and desirable to abbreviate the suit to make it into a vest type of garment. If it is to be used as an outer garment, then it is ydesirable to construct it from material that is more acceptable from an appearance standpoint than the netted type where air Ventilating material was a necessity because of the particular application.

In accordance with this invention as was mentioned above, the lacing has been eliminated and rhas been replaced by stretchable material in la manner to be described hereinbelow. A problem attendant the stretchable material is that in certain applications, particularly where the wearer is subjected to extremely high temperatures or exposed to open flames, such material allows heat to adversely affect the garment even to the extent of actually fusing lgarment materials to the flesh resulting in either discomfort or injury to the wearer. Thus, it is necessary to provide means for covering this Iarea yet Without interfering with the stretchability that is necessary to the effectiveness of the particular garment.

It is also contemplated within the scope of this invention to provide a garment that is completely constructed of different materials and particularly of material which is characterized as having high stretehability.

Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a thermal garment which is characterized `as obviating the problems enumerated above and further characterized by the fact that it is economical and having good heat transfer characteristics although subjected to rugged `and repeated use and laundering.

Other features and `advantages will be lapparent from the specication and claims and from the accompanying drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the invention.

FIGURE l is a partial View showing Ia portion of the garment mounted on a wearer and illustrating a feature of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged partial View illustrating the material of the garment illustrated in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 illustrates an abbreviated garment mounted on the anterior portion of the wearer.

FIGURE 4 is the garment illustrated in FIGURE 3 mounted on the posterior portion of the wearer.

FIGURE 5 is a partial sectional view illustrating another feature of this invention wherein an outer pleated covering overlies the stretch portion of the garment.

FIGURE 6 is a partial sectional View showing the insulating cover illustrated in FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 7 is a plan view showing another method of attaching the tubes to the garment.

FIGURE 8 is an elevated view partly in section illustrating the stitches for securing the tubes to the inner surface of the garment.

FIGURE 9 is an elevated view partly in section illustrating the tube coupling mechanism.

FIGURE 10A is a pattern view of the anterior portion of the retention member.

FIGURE 10B is -a pattern view of the posterior portion of the retention member.

FIGURE 10C is an assembled view of the two portions shown in FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES l and 2 illustrating the construction of a thermal garment formed from a netted fabric and the means for assuring that the tubes fastened on the inner surface of the garment are maintained in intimate contact with the wearer yet providing the means for donning and dofling the garment. As was mentioned above, the 394,548 application supra, allowed for donning and dofling by providing zippers in judicial locations and providing laces joining the anterior and posterior sections of the garment where the laces extended from the ankles to the armpits and from the cuff to the neck along the sides of the wearer. In accordance with this invention a stretch material, generally indicated by numeral 10, is suitably secured to the main body of the garment which is formed from a netted type of material and generally indicated by numeral 12. As can be seen from FIGURE 2, a binding tape is fastened to the free edges of the netted material by any suitable means such as sewing and the other edge of the tape 14 is similarly fastened to the stretchable material l0. Likewise, although not shown, the posterior portion of the garment is similarly attached to completely encircle the body of the wearer. Of course, openings are provided for the hands, feet and neck to pass through. In this construction the garment is donned and doffed by virtue of the stretch material stretching over the curvatures of the body. When the garment is in place, the stretch material affords sufficient tension to urge the tubes adjacent the skin of the wearer. It may also be desirable to insert the stretch material similar to that used along the sides of the wearer at the various joints of the wearer, such as the knees as illustrated in FIG. 1, so that repeated use which normally would distort the garment at these points would be obviated. Of course, it will be necessary to include an opening either in the front or the rear of the wearers torso to provide sufficient room for the wearer to don and doff the garment, which opening is closed by suitable means such as a conventional zipper attachment. A suitable stretch material is any material which will stretch at least 30% or more and has a prompt natural recovery of more than 85%.

Referring next to FIGURES 3 and 4 which show an abbreviated type of garment in the form of a vest with no sleeves but with long divided tails to cover the buttocks, lower anterior abdomen and uper thigh. It is pointed out that in this type of garment a denser tubing pattern to approach the same thermal transfer capacity as the full length garment is desirable. Of course, these denser patterns are dependent in degree upon the application to which the wearer is subjected and are achievable by making the network of tubes such that the tubes adjacent the center of the garment are in substantially a straight line running vertically along the torso with the main panels of the garment made of nonstretch material while the tubes around the armpits and the side of the torso follow a serpentine pattern and are laid on high-stretch panel strips running vertically through these regions, the latter serving to keep the entire garment tight around the body. The vest, generally indicated by numeral 16, is formed from three sections; left front anterior section 18, the right front anterior section 20, and the posterior section 22. The edges are secured in a manner to be described hereinbelow. The left and front anterior sections are joined in the center by a zipper generally indicated by numeral 24 extending from the neckline to the frontal bottom and are fastened to the front edges of both le'ft and right anterior sections in any suitable manner.

It is contemplated within the scope of this invention that the vest of this type may be constructed simply from an all-stretch material and the tubes would be mounted on the inner surface thereof. In the construction of this type then, the inserts described in connection with FIG. 1 along the sides are unnecessary, but all tubing must be installed to afford a minimum of resistance to the stretch action and :also to insure reliable attachment to the unstable stretch fabrics. However, as is illustrated, in order to prevent the suit from riding up on the wearer, an unavoidable tendency with unsecured high stretch fabrics, a

suitable retaining crotch piece is necessary and the next portion of this description will describe the construction of the crotch member generally indicated by numeral 26.

Of course, the riding up of the garment on the torso is encouraged by movement of the wearer particularly when he raises his arms or bends his torso. The well-known underwear such as trunks or briefs are not suitable for this purpose inasmuch as they are not capable of taking the upward forces necessary to keep the suit in a stationary position relative to the torso of the wearer without resulting in discomfort thereto. Nor is it practical or feasible to sew the retention means or the underwear directly to the vest since it would interfere or prevent the donning and dofling thereof. In accordance with this invention the retention or crotch member 26 is constructed so as to prevent the vest from riding up on the torso without resulting in a discomfort to the wearer. Obviously, to apply the stress along the center line of the body would result in a discomfort to the genitals in the crotch area. Hence, the retention member 26 is designed so that the stresses as indicated by the arrows are applied in a gradient adjacent the outer extremities of the crotch, and the greatest stresses are applied at the extreme outer edges. Retention member 26 is formed in two pieces, the anterior portion 28 and the posterior portion 30, both being joined along the seam 32 which extends only along the horizontal line thereof. The front surface at the bottom center is gathered and is stitched as shown by seam 34 to form a pouch and relieve the stress as illustrated by the stress arrows generally indicated by numeral 36. It is apparent from the foregoing that the anterior and posterior portions of the retention garment are only joined at this point and all other edges are free. A binding tape may be fastened to the outer edge of the garment and follows a pattern similar in shape to the curvatures where the limbs join the torso.

An additional problem in applying upward forces to a garment passing between the legs is the tendency for the forces to cause or urge the material in the center to crease between the buttocks, again resulting in discomfort to the wearer and loss of tightness of the vest in the vertical direction. Of course, this tendency is increased when the wearer bends over or sits down. A solution to this problem has been found by shaping the material of the posterior section to fit closely over the buttock contours, transferring the stress to the extreme outer edge or band and hence, serving to keep the material from sliding toward the center by the buttocks shape themselves. As noted from FIGURE 3, seams 38 and 40 are formed by gathering the material outwardly for a slight amount and sewn together to `form a pouch. It is important to note that these seams 3S and 40 are formed at a point near the lower extremity of the buttocks along the curvature where the buttocks fares from a horizontal to vertical line. It is important that the creases or seams 38 and 40 be normal or at a precisely proper angle to the adjacent outer edge of the retention member 30.

The specific design techniques of the crotch piece are described hereinbelow and are applicable where:

(l) an extremely close-fitting underwear is required where maximum comfort and good support is necessary; or

(2) the underwear or crotch section of a garment is required to afford means of vertically tensioning or tightening where the tube supporting garment exerts upward forces roughly parallel to the vertical center line of the torso.

Referring to FIGURES 10A and 10B, showing the anterior and posterior sections respectively of the crotch garment shown as it would appear when cut out flat from stock material directly from the pattern where dimension A is graded to establish the degree of overall tension to be exerted by the crotch garment in a manner where the upward `forces are determined by a consistent physical location of the upper attach points or where it is desired to have theedges 112 and 114 at some particular location.

Dimensions B are graded along a different ratio to establish the characteristics of stress vs. distance from the body vertical center line according to statistical evaluation of typical users. Decreasing dimensions B increases forces at the "center line, while increasing B decreases forces at the center line and shifts forces toward the outer edges 116, 118, 120 and 122. If B is too wide, all forces are placed at edges 116, 118, 120 and 122 which may cause another discomfort. Dimensions C and C' are also graded to a third ratio and Vdetermines basic support and comfort characteristics for the genitals and buttocks.

In addition, the location of seam 34 may be shifted slightly to the right of the body center line by increasing the radius forming edge 34 slightly 'and decreasing radius forming edge 34 slightly for maximum accuracy of t and degree of comfort.

FIGURE C shows the assembled crotch piece with edge 34 gathered and seamed to form a closed pocket and the anterior section is attached to the posterior section along seam 32. The edges 124 and 126 of the anterior section may also be attached to the edges 128 and 130 respectively leaving sufficient opening for the thigh if a waist band is to be included to aid in further retention to the user.

Of course, it is desirable to mount the retention member 26 to the vest so as to be retractable without interfering with the donning and dothng of the entire g'arment. This may be accomplished by using a hook and pile type of fabric where the hook tape is secured to the inner surface at the top edge of the anterior garment 28 and the top edge of the posterior garment 30 and the pile members 42 and 44 are sewn directly on the face of the vest as indicated in the drawing. Since such material is Iwell known in the art and is not part of this invention, a complete description thereof is eliminated for the sake of convenience. Such material `is known as Velcro `and is available from the Velcro Corporation. It is contemplated within the scope of this invention to provide an insulating cover secured on the outer surface portion of the garment as is illustrated in FIG. 3, 4 and 6, As shown in FIGS.` 3 and 4 the anterior and posterior sections are fabricated from anyouterquilted member. The `diagonal lines illustrate typical stitches forming the tucks of the quilt material. Quilting may' be done in any conventional manner and other stitch patterns are equally applica-ble. However, the construction of the thermal `garment with the insulation material forms `an important aspect of this invention. For the purposes of this description it is presumed that a structural tube supporting fabric is either entirely constructed from a stretchable material or is partly made from a nonstretch and partly from a stretch material like the gar-ment i1- lustrated in FIG. 1. Of course, the purpose Iof the insulating material is to prevent the transfer of heat to the ambient or from the ambient to the wearer. This not only affords better heating or cooling capabilities afforded to the skin of the wearer respectively but also reduces the amount yof tubing necessary to get the proper heat transfer effectiveness, hence reducing `the cost-thereof. A problem inherent in the use of insulation material i-s its natural tendency to be bulky and form Ibunches resulting in ineficiency and uncomfort to the wearer. Also, such insulating material interferes With the stretchability of the supporting structure and hinders its ability to hold the tu'bes in intimate contact `with the body of the wearer. The construction to be described hereinbelow solves the problem.

As can be seen from FIG. 6, the tubes generally indicated yby numeral 52 are applied to the stretch material indicated by numeral 54 by stitching the same thereto at judicious locations. In a separate step the insulation indicated by numeral 56 is laid out in a sheet between a suitable lightweight backing material 57, like a lowweight tricot nylon loosely knitted fabric, and the outer fabric 60. The three are then sewn together with any of the well-known quilting machines. The three fabrics lor materials forman integral tri-layer cloth which is then cut into the proper shape. Obviously, the stretch material 54 is cut into the proper shape prior to having the tubes mounted thereon. This panel then matches the trilayer cloth when the latter is allowed to retract to a minimum area, and the two panels are then sewn together at the free end junction points, namely, at the points where the anterior and posterior garments are sewn, and adjacent the zipper. In this manner, since the outer insulation cover is free from the under tube support fabric, the assembled garment has flexibility to expand as necessary when the tube supporting structure expands in conformity with body distortion yet without binding or pulling.

FIGURE 5 is included to illustrate means for heat or spark protection for a suit constructed with nonstretchable panels utilizing the stretchable material at the various seam joints similar to the type illustrated in FIG. l. Asv was mentioned earlier, the type of stretch material contemplated does not offer any protection against extreme heat and open flame where flying sparks may egress through the interstices of the stretch material and which, in fact, is often itself inordinately hazardous to the wearer in the presence of extreme temperature-s resulting in possible injury to the wearer. In such applications it is often necessary to afford suitable protection in these vulnerable spots. Of course, in utilizing the stretch material, the means affording protection against heat and spark must not interfere with the stretchability of the stretch fabric. As noted in FIG. 5, a pair of panels 62 and 64 constructed from nonstretchable material have mounted thereto tubes indicated by numeral 66. As noted, stretch material 68 is fastened to either end of the nonstretch material 62 and 64 to encircle the torso or close the opening at a joint as the case may be. This section then is covered on each side by panels of a fire resistant `material each of which is formed to contain at least a pair of pleats 70 and 78. These pleats may be a permanent type but do not necessarily have to take that form. Hence, this type of construction allows material 68 to stretch unhampered.

A-s has been described in the above, one of the problems inherent with the type of construction disclosed in the 394,548 application, supra, is that after use and laundering, the tubes tended to meander and shift, hence, adversely affecting the cooling effectiveness and comfort of the garment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the bottom of the garment, is turned so that the tubes are in view and done so for the purpose of showing how the tubes may be tacked to prevent the tubes from shifting out of position. As noted, these tack stitches are judiciously located such that one or more of the stitches ideally are at the apex of the bend or in the area of minimum radius and the next adjacent stitche-s are at the radii of each adjacent bend.

Also of importance is the particular stitch necessary to lock the tube into position. This has presented a problem sincerthe only heretofore known method of stitching was by hand. FIGURE 8 illustrates a tack stitch of the lock type which is capable of being produced by a specially-modified sewing machine. This lock type of stitch also assures. that in the event of any single thread being broken that the other threads will still hold the tube in position. As noted, the thread is first passed through the fabric and over the bobbin stitch 82y and back through the fabric and repeated this way two or three times for firm anchorage to the fabric itself, then passed over the tube 84, then again through the material and under and over the bobbin stitch, back through the material and then back over the tube, again through the material; repeated in this fashion until at least four to seven threads hold the tube in position. The end of the thread then is made to pass through the material several times on one side of the tube in order to again lock the stitch into position and prevent the unraveling thereof. Of course, each time the thread passes through the material it also goes around the bobbin thread in a conventional lock-stitch fashion. It is important to note that the points where the stitches are locked to the fabric are out of the way of the tubes so that the gathering of the stitches does not bunch at a point that would be pressed against the wearer and cause discomfort thereto.

An alternative method of mounting the tubes onto the fabric of the garment is illustrated in FIGURE 7. The tubes which preferably may be made from polyvinylchloride, generally indicated by numeral 84, are first mounted onto a series of axially spaced tapes 86 formed from a similar material, each tape spans three or four loops or more of the tubes. While the particular material of the tubes and/ or tapes are not considered a part of this invention, it is to understood that the tapes and tubes must be of the type that would be susceptible to being firmly and reliably bonded to each other and afford flexibility when mounted into the garment. These strips of tapes after bonding are sewn `by any suitable manner directly onto the fabric 88 already formed into the suit pattern. Thus, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the suit, assuming that it is made a stretch material, can be stretched in both the horizontal and vertical directions without having the tubes offer any resistance thereto. It will be noted also that the individual tapes do not span too great a distance over the body of the fabric and are arranged in deference to body contours and muscle masses.

While the type of tube coupling disclosed in the 394,548 application, supra, is acceptable, ,it does present a discomfort problem since the tubes, when mounted to the coupling, cause a bend resulting in a discomfort to the wearer. This connector as shown in FIG. 9 and generally indicated by numeral 90 is formed from a polyvinylchloride material or suitable bondable material and comprises a body member 92 having a plurality of lateral openings extending toward the center 94 and communicating with an inner plenum 96. The inner plenum, in turn, communicates with a bore 100 formed in the centrally mounted upwardly projecting member 98. Integrally formed to the coupling 90 are tabs 102 which are fastened or sewn to the inner surface of the fabric 104 to secure the coupling thereto. The upstanding member 98 projects outwardly through an opening or buttonhole 106 for receiving t-he feed conduit 110. In assembling, the distribution tubes, once the coupling is fastened to the fabric, are inserted in the respective hole openings 94 and the elbow 108 is then monuted on the upstanding member f 98 and rotated to receive the feed conduit 110. Bonding material or processes are then applied to cooperating surfaces of elbow 108 and upstanding member 98.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments shown and described herein, but that various changes and modifications may -be made without departing from the spirit or scope of this novel concept as defined by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a thermal garment adapted to cover the torso of the wearer including a support fabric encircling the torso and having anterior and posterior panels, a plurality of tubes around the inner surface of said anterior and posterior panels, means for conducting fluid through said tubes, insulating means mounted to the outer surface of said support fabric, said insulating means including an outer layer of substantially nonstretchable fabric and an inner layer of stretchable material both sandwiching a layer of an insulating material formed from a matted array of fibers, said layers being quilted together and formed into the shape of the torso for dening an outer garment, said -outer garment sewn to the anterior and posterior panels at the junction seam Where the anterior and poste` rior panels are joined to encircle the torso.

2. In combination, a thermal `garment adapted to cover at least the torso of the wearer including a support fabric encircling the torso and having anterior and posterior panels, a plurality of tubes around the inner surface of said anterior and posterior panels, means for conducting fluid through said tubes for conducting heat to or away from the body, said panels formed froma substantially nonstretchable fabric and terminating adjacent the sides of the torso, a stretch material j-oining the anterior and posterior panels at the sides to completely encircle the torso, means including a fire and heat resistant treated fabric adapted to protect the 'wearer from injury when exposed to extremely high temperature and open flames, said fire and heat resistant material formed into two layers of fabric extending the width of the stretchable material and having at least one fold so that each of said layers has an excess of material so as not to interfere with the stretch of said stretch material, said layers sandwiching said stretched material and joined at the side of said anterior and posterior panels.

3. In combination, a thermal garment adapted to cover the torso of the wearer including a support fabric encircling the torso and having anterior and posterior panels, a plurality of tubes around the inner surface of said anterior and posterior panels, means for conducting fluid through said tubes for conducting heat to or from the body of the wearer, means fitted around the crotch of the wearer for preventing said garment from moving relative to the torso, said means formed from anterior and posterior panels joined at the lower extremity adjacent the crotch, a slit at the lower front center of the anterior section being gathered and sewn at complementary edges defining therewith a pouch, a pair of diametrically opposed slits at the side edges of the posterior portion intermediate the crotch and waist extending inwardly toward the buttocks and being gathered and sewn on complementary edges defining a pair of spaced pouches and means at the waist section for joining said moving prevention means to said thermal garment.

4. In combination, `a thermal garment adapted to conduct heat to or away from the body of the wearer comprising a main support fabric formed to encircle the portion of the body of the wearer intended to be heated or cooled, a plurality of tubes having openings communicating with a source of liquid so as to conduct liquid therethrough for transmitting heat to or from the body, said tubes mounted in a pattern and bonded to a plurality of axially spaced strips of bondable material, adjacent strips being mounted and joined to the main support fabric by stitches placed at judicial locations, said tubes being mounted so as to be in intimate contact with the body of the wearer'.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,026,963 1/1936 Burns 12S- 540 2,256,410 9/1941 Robbins 128-540 X 2,648,325 8/1953 Siple 165-46 X 2,657,396 11/1953 Klein 165-46 X 2,981,257 4/1961 Kress 12S-541 X 3,084,241 2/1963 Carrona 2-81 X ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

M. A. ANTONAKAS, Assistant Examiner. 

